Ben Ainslie: I’m no quitter – we will keep going until we win America’s Cup

Not only is the America’s Cup the oldest competition in international sport, it is also one of the most idiosyncratic.
So it was that, as New Zealand crossed the finish line in Barcelona, to seal an ultimately comprehensive 7-2 victory over Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia and lift the Auld Mug for the third time in a row, an official letter was being passed by Bertie Bickett, chairman of the Royal Yacht Squadron, under whose flag Ineos Britannia race, to his opposite number in the New Zealand Royal Yacht Squadron, challenging the Kiwis to another match. The challenge was accepted and Ineos are, as a consequence, official Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup. The race for the next Cup has already started.
Where that will be and when will be decided over the coming days and weeks. “We would hope to have a protocol out in around eight months,” Bicket told Telegraph Sport. Saudi Arabia is one option for the venue, admitted Team New Zealand’s chief executive Grant Dalton who gets to decide on that element. Returning to New Zealand is another. Or staying in Barcelona.
But one thing is clear, Ainslie’s team will be there. “100 per cent,” said the Ineos helmsman and skipper after getting off the water and embracing his young children, Bellatrix, 8, and Fox, 3. “I’m not a quitter so we’ll keep going until we get that job done.”
There will be those who will look at the final scoreline here and laugh at that statement, imagining this to be some sort of drubbing, as if it was a football score. Who will consider the millions spent as money down the drain. The truth is, the America’s Cup match is a two-horse race. And in a two-horse race, the fastest horse usually wins. New Zealand were definitely the faster horse.
Ineos were good but not good enough. “Another week or two and we might have had them,” reckoned Ainslie’s co-helm Dylan Fletcher. He may have been right. We will never know.
The America’s Cup is so hard to win precisely because it is not fair. The odds are always stacked in favour of the defender. They set the rules, they decide the class of boat, they decide the venue, the challengers. They even run the event itself. That is why only four countries have ever won it in 173 years. That is why the New York Yacht Club retained it for the first 130-odd years of the Cup’s existence.
But Ainslie is right not to feel too disappointed today. Ineos were the most successful British team in 90-odd years. They were the first to reach the actual Cup match in 60 years. And they were the first to come through the Louis Vuitton challenger series since that became a thing some 40 years ago.
What is more, they proved conclusively that the technical partnership with Mercedes F1, at which some people sneered when they came to grief in Auckland nearly four years ago, could work. This team was light years better than that one. It was ambitious with its design, and then improved faster than any other team in Barcelona once racing got under way.
Ultimately, Ineos were unable to upset the odds. New Zealand, who were able to spend two months longer designing their boat as they knew they were already in the final, who tested out different foils during challenger series before deciding on their final package, who spent three weeks making refinements to their boat while assessing the opposition in the knockout rounds, were just too good. As Ainslie was happy to admit.
“In my view they are the best team ever in the America’s Cup,” he said in the immediate aftermath of Race 9, which Ineos lost by 37 seconds despite another good start and then an excellent fightback to draw level mid-race. “When you look at it, they were a click faster than us, a click better manoeuvring, a little bit better at figuring out the wind shifts off the start line. They sailed immaculately. When you get beaten by a team at that level you just have to take your hats off to them. It’s no surprise really. They have been at this for 30-35 years and every time they do it they get stronger.”
Ainslie said he did not know whether he would be on the helm next time. Fletcher, who almost certainly will be, insisted the 47-year-old was “still at the top of his game”, referencing Ineos’ pre-starts. But whether he is or he isn’t, Ainslie promised Ineos would be better next time when they will be backed once again by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Mercedes F1, albeit with other partners and sponsors brought in to help fund the £100m-plus campaign.
“This isn’t the end of the journey for us,” reflected Ainslie, who thanked the British public for getting behind his team. “We’ve been going for 10 years now and we’re getting better every time. I’m disappointed but proud of the team, at how far we’ve come in 10 years.
“The best teams in the modern history of the Cup, New Zealand and Luna Rossa, are the teams who have been around the longest. Each time you do it you learn more, you get more efficient, you learn more about your design tools. This is our third time around and we got close this time but not quite close enough. We are determined to keep going until we get the job done.”
We know that Great Britain will have to wait until the 38th America’s Cup to have another tilt at lifting the Auld Mug. But what will that look like?
Emirates Team New Zealand CEO, Grant Dalton, said: “The Challenger of Record will be announced in due course – obviously something’s had to happen as we crossed the line, that’s just how the game works, and we’ll wait until that’s announced in due course, in a few days.”
Challenger of Record is the title given to the first yacht club to challenge the America’s Cup holder once it has been won. Together, the Defender – which will once again be New Zealand – and Challenger of Record set the rules for the competition. This includes the format, the venue, and the type of boat raced – although we expect to see the AC75s in action again. 
As for the rest, we will have to wait and see.
The victorious team receives a traditional welcome back to the dock. Lots of family support waiting for them.
When asked whether we would see him helming another America’s Cup campaign, or whether it was time to stick to the boardroom, Ainslie said: “I don’t know. In these moments it’s not really about me, it’s about the team and what is right for the team and all I can tell you is that I’m committed to taking this team forwards on that journey to win the Cup. That’s all I know right now, and we’ll figure out the rest when the timing’s right.”
”Are you up for another one?”
“Of course,” says Ineos Britannia helm Dylan Fletcher, with a smile.
Leigh McMillan, trimmer for Ineos Britannia, said back on the dock: “Obviously we’re a bit disappointed not to get the win, I guess. The overwhelming feeling really is just how proud we are of what we’ve achieved. Obviously we came here to win but I think we went through a lot of hard times to get to this point and I think the team’s showed incredible resilience the whole way through this campaign to get this far, and to push Emirates Team New Zealand as hard as we could.”
It’s important to remember that it’s 60 years since we have had a British challenger in the America’s Cup final, and 90 years since a British challenger has won a race in that match.
 
Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC75 Taihoro is being towed back to harbour with a huge flotilla escort. They have got an enormous flag raised up the mast thanking Barcelona, the host city, for their hospitality. 
Emirates Team New Zealand celebrate crossing the finish line.
 
The Ineos Britannia skipper said: “Firstly I’ve got to say a huge well done to Team New Zealand – I mean what an amazing campaign and team – in my view I think they’re the best team ever in the America’s Cup so that’s quite some achievement, so well done to them.”
“And to our team I just can’t say enough thanks to everyone for all of the effort they’ve put in over the years to get us this far. It’s been a hell of a road through this event to get to this finals. We had our moments in the finals but at the end of the day the better team won.”
Taihoro means “to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth”. This AC75 certainly did that this past week.  
Skipper Pete Burling said: “What an amazing feeling. It’s been a tough battle all week, but an amazing scoreline and I’m really proud of the way the team just kept battling today.”
Co-helm Nathan Outteridge, who is personally celebrating his first America’s Cup win, said: “It’s been a big dream for a long time so it’s so awesome to be here with everyone and achieve it and looking forward to the celebrations tonight!”
He credits the hard work of the wider team and said: “This isn’t just a sailing competition as most of us think it is, it’s a huge design and engineering competition and the guys that have been working for three years to put this boat together for us, the people who’ve been building it, the people who’ve been maintaining it on a daily basis – it’s a massive team effort and I’m just honoured to be a part of it, and really happy we were able to deliver on the water when it counted.”
A sailing masterclass from Emirates Team New Zealand, who stayed absolutely on the process right up until the final metre before the finish line. Deserved winners.
Emirates Team New Zealand are making life much more difficult for Ineos Britannia here. They have given the Brits very few chances to get past, or get to the right. One leg to go. One leg between Emirates Team New Zealand and their third successive America’s Cup victory. They lead by 17 seconds. 
Defensive moves to keep themselves between Ineos Britannia and the right-hand-side of the course, which seems to be favoured. 
Emirates Team New Zealand Coach Ray Davies confirms that he is happier with the team’s strategy for this beat, where they are protecting the big shifts and pressure that seem to be coming down the right-hand-side of the course. 
They have allowed a big leverage to open up with Ineos Britannia, who are right over on the other side of the track. 
GBR choose to split at the bottom of the course. Let’s see if they can recreate their gains from leg three. 
Ineos Britannia Coach Rob Wilson said: “They left the door open very slightly on that second beat which gave us a route back in.”
The two extra manoeuvres that the Brits had to do at the windward gate have dropped them back a little, however.
Ineos Britannia are right back in this. The boats split at the top. 
Ineos Britannia have done a brilliant job of getting back into this. They hold this tight lane hanging in above the Kiwis, who hold them above the layline. 
Big split on this second upwind. Ineos Britannia seem to have got a couple of shifts right here and closed the gap a little. Emirates Team New Zealand slam a tack on them. Expect to see some pretty defensive moves from the Kiwis here. They will keep a cover on the Brits and try to keep themselves between their rival and the next mark. 
GBR have closed the gap at the bottom end of the track but they still trail by just over 20 seconds. 
Ineos Britannia did very well in that pre-start, but forcing Emirates Team New Zealand into that early tack actually handed them the present of being straight into phase with the wind shifts. In fleet racing, it’s important to be all over the wind compass numbers and looking out of the boat for darker patches/more pressure. It’s still really important in match racing – as we’ve seen here – but when you’re doing manoeuvres at 30 knots with another AC75 in a pre-start duel, it’s rather harder to keep in touch with what’s going on with subtle changes in the breeze.
They have extended to an impressive lead after the first leg of six. They got the shifts absolutely right up that first beat, which means they will have sailed less distance than their British rival.
NZL tacking onto port, they will cross GBR. We know that Emirates Team New Zealand are making small but crucial gains through their tacks, especially in this flat water. It seems they got straight into phase with the shifts off the start line as well. 
Pretty even at first cross. GBR have to duck as they are the port, keep clear boat.
GBR had control through that whole pre-start, they were to leeward of NZL at the start and forced them to tack off. Potentially NZL tacked off onto a left shift though. First cross will be critical. 
NZL tacks off, GBR follows – trying to maketheir life difficult. GBR leads back to the line.
They gybe and start to hunt down Emirates Team New Zealand to put some pressure on in the pre-start.
We have 5-11 knots on the course, so staying out of those light patches, or ‘holes’, will make all the difference. The countdown is on. Less than three minutes to go. 
Five minutes on the clock until the start of race nine. The race committee will confirm the race is live when that timer hits three minutes to go. 
Just under 15 minutes until the next possible start time for race nine. 
… the YouTube live feed is showing a replay of Wednesday’s race six while we wait for wind!
Next possible start for race nine will be 13:50 BST. Ineos Britannia will have starboard entry.
Spirits look high on the Ineos Britannia chase boat while we sit through this light wind postponement. Cyclor David ‘Freddie’ Carr gives the photographer a smile and a thumbs up. 
There has been a lot of chatter around the sail selection both teams have been making, with Emirates Team New Zealand consistently opting for a smaller headsail than Ineos Britannia. That’s unlikely to be a factor today – with the breeze this light I would expect both AC75s to have their biggest sails up for maximum power.
Patience required here. The offshore wind has died off – which is good – and now we wait to see if a small thermal breeze will build. It currently reads 4-6 knots across the course, and we need a minimum of 6.5 knots for the race committee to get the start underway.
Both AC75s on their way to the race course. Looks like they are foiling which is good news… there must be a little bit of breeze.
Co-helm Dylan Fletcher said: “We’ve been getting stronger and stronger throughout this event. They’ll have the ghost of San Francisco in the back of their mind and what Ben achieved then, so looking forward to taking the smile off their face today.”
Georgie chats to Ben Ainslie, British cycling legend @millarmind , weather Walter, helm Dylan and cyclor Freds ahead of racing on RD6Watch the Dock Walk presented by @ainslieainslie_#ChallengeofaLifetime #AmericasCup https://t.co/l8Ux2bdCb5
That’s how Ben Ainslie reacted on the dock today to the fact his team have to win every race now.
He said: “No second chances from here on in so we’ve got to execute, the team are up for that fight”.
Ineos Britannia pays tribute to the fans lining the harbour wall in Barcelona, saying: “your support drives us on”.
Shout out to the super fans and the Barcelona wall 🇬🇧❤️Your support drives us on #ChallengeofaLifetime pic.twitter.com/4rDqbxI3Pk
It’s the situation that sportspeople often rise to, but one they never really want to be in – Ineos Britannia must win every race from this point onwards to remain in the fight to win the America’s Cup. Emirates Team New Zealand put on a masterclass in the shifty, gusty offshore conditions in Barcelona yesterday to take the scoreline to 6-2 in this first-to-seven series.
The Kiwis perfectly read the first shift off of the start line in both races seven and eight to make a big jump on the Brits, and they remained in control throughout. There will be nothing taken for granted for the New Zealand team, though – they have been on the wrong side of a miraculous comeback before – when they led Oracle Team USA 8-1 in the 2013 iteration of the event, only to be beaten by a final score of 9-8. As co-helm Nathan Outteridge said yesterday: “I’m feeling like it’s not done until it’s done so looking forward to seeing you on the weekend.”
The wind forecast is not overly promising, with 6-8 knots predicted from a southerly direction. With a minimum wind limit of 6.5 knots needed to start, we could see some waiting – but some models suggest a thermal enhancement to the breeze and potentially up to 9-12 knots later in the afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed. The planned start time for race nine is 13:10 BST.